They sang Joy to the World as well. Hopefully Baghdad will see more joy, and many more silent nights, in 2008.

If anyone ever asks if you have any recommendations for ethereal Puerto Rican electronica tell them to listen to Balun. You’re bound to look pretty cool if that ever happens.

Check out Ted’s site for more politics, guns, and rock. Oh, this old interview is pretty classic too. He hasn’t changed much.

You can see the list here. As usual some picks are good, some bad. I had to add one of my favorites - The Godfathers:

Before their incarnation as The Godfathers they went by the name The Sid Presley Experience, which lasted from 1983 to 1985. They were signed to Epic Records in 1987. Their guitar-driven alternative rock sound was somewhat out of place in the electronica-driven music scene of the UK at the time. In particular their most famous song the storming rocker ‘Birth, School, Work, Death’ failed to make the charts in the late eighties, despite standing the test of time much better than other music from this era. Its raw lyrics though probably did not endear it to the elderly, middle of the road DJs then dominating Radio 1, then the main youth pop station in the UK.

Try to enjoy the video while your stock portfolio evaporates.

I think they’ve announced this 5 times since 1984 and never managed to actually pull it off. I’m not sure if this is any different. Anyway, here’s the news via Rolling Stone:

The long awaited Van Halen reunion tour is on: Rolling Stone has confirmed that the band will make an official anouncement at a Los Angeles press conference sometime next week. The band lineup will be David Lee Roth on vocals, Eddie Van Halen on guitar, Alex Van Halen on drums and Wolfgang Van Halen on bass. The tour, Van Halen’s first outing with Roth since 1984

Having seen them at their peak in 1984, and still struggling with the brain cell loss and hearing damage that resulted from that night, I’m not sure I’d want to taint that experience with whatever they can muster now.